A cornice board arrangement for use over, for example, a single width (36 inches) window or door generally comprises a face board, facing the room, a dust board extending from the top of the face board back to the wall above the window and first and second side boards at either end of the face and dust boards.
Heretofore, prior art cornice boards of the type described have generally been made of plywood or suitable wood, such as pine, that is inexpensive and easily worked. There are numerous problems involved in making cornices out of wood of any sort, however. In the first place, the wood must be sufficiently thick so that it will not bend, resulting in an unduly heavy and unwieldy cornice, and even with sufficient thickness, the wood still is subject to warping. In addition, because of the weight of the components involved, to ensure structural integrity, in the assembly of the cornice the pieces must be joined together by screws, which are preferable, or by nails, thereby greatly increasing the weight of the cornice assembly while making assembly thereof tedious and time consuming. Other drawbacks to the use of wood are its permeability to moisture, its odor and its attraction to insects.
In the assembly of any wooden window treatment form, the various pieces thereof must be cut to proper size and shape by sawing, which adds to the difficulty of assembly, especially where the window is of a non-standard size, or where a shape other than straight edges is desired, and the individual pieces must be sawed to the proper length or shape. The assembly must then be mounted into position over the window, for example, which requires mounting brackets of sufficient strength to hold the heavy form which are mounted to the wall, for example, above the window. Because of the weight of the window treatment form, e.g., cornice assembly, such brackets must be mounted to the wall by toggle bolts or molly bolts, preferably the former, and screwed to the cornice assembly. Such a mounting arrangement is extremely difficult for one person to accomplish because of the weight and unwieldiness of the assembly. If, subsequently, it is necessary to remove the assembly, the reverse process is necessary, i.e., unscrewing all of the mounting screws joining the brackets to the cornice, and lifting the heavy form off of the brackets. Removal of the brackets themselves leaves large, unsightly holes in the wall.
It is customary to cover the exterior of the form with decorative fabric, which, because of the hardness of the wood surface, has to be stapled or tacked into place on the cornice. Thus, if at some future time it is necessary to remove the fabric for cleaning, for example, the tedious and potentially fabric damaging process of removing the staples is necessary, with no assurance that the fabric will remain undamaged so that it may be cleaned and reused.